Storia do Mogor 13.1.3

13.1.3

In the early part of his book, and up to about the year 1678, there is an almost constant defect of two years in Manucci's dates. From external evidence we know that the eclipse of the sun he saw at Zulfah, in Armenia, took place on August 12, 1654; that he landed in India in January, 1656; that the Battle of Samugarh, near Agrah, was fought on June 8, 1658. Calculating from these points as fixed data, we find that Manucci left Venice in November, 1653 (not 1651). He says he was then fourteen, and thus must have been born some time in 1639. He ran away from home, and hid on board a vessel bound for Smyrna; here he encountered Viscount Bellomont (Henry Bard), then on his way to Persia and India. Bellomont had pity on the lad, and took him into his service. From Smyrna they went through Asia Minor to the Persian court at Qazwin (August, 1654). Thence they moved to Isfahan, where they remained a year (September, 1654 to September, 1655), finally reaching Gombroon (Bandar 'Abbas) via Shiraz and Lar. A passage was obtained on the H.E.I. Company's Seahorse, in which they reached Surat, on the west coast of India, in January, 1656. Leaving that place in April, they travelled by Burhanpur, Handiyah, Sironj, Narwar, Gwaliyar and Dholpur to Agrah; thence they started for the Mogul court at Dihli. On June 20, 1656, when near Hodal, a place between Mathura and Dihli, Bellomont suddenly expired.